California ammunition sales limit overturned

Published 6:23 pm, Thursday, November 7, 2013

In a setback for gun-control advocates, a state appeals court has barred enforcement of a California law that would require all purchases of ammunition "principally for use" in handguns to be made in person rather than by mail order or on the Internet.

The law, which has been blocked by court orders since 2011, would require buyers of ammunition to be thumb-printed and sellers to keep records of the transactions.

Most types of ammunition are not limited to handguns, but can be used in rifles and other firearms, the Fifth District Court of Appeal said in a 2-1 ruling Wednesday. As a result, the court said, those affected by the law would not have fair notice of whether it applies to their transactions and when they might be at risk of prosecution.

Neither the law nor testimony by experts and gun dealers has provided "a common understanding or objective meaning of the term 'handgun ammunition,' " said Justice Gene Gomes in the majority opinion. The law's vague wording could lead to inconsistent and unpredictable enforcement, he said, and could make compliance difficult or impossible for mail-order and Internet ammunition sellers.

Dissenting Justice Dennis Cornell said dealers know which types of cartridges are designed mainly for handguns. He cited evidence that gun sellers generally label some of their supplies as "handgun ammunition" and that a standard reference book on ammunition includes a section titled "Current Handgun Cartridges of the World."

Courts have upheld other generally worded gun laws, such as a federal ban on mail-order sales of "firearms capable of being concealed on the person," Cornell said. He said the California law's identification and record-keeping requirements would pose only a "minor inconvenience" to purchasers and would not affect their constitutional right to possess a handgun for self-defense.

The law, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, was scheduled to take effect in February 2011 but was blocked by a Superior Court judge in Fresno, who declared it unconstitutionally vague.

Legislation to specify the types of ammunition covered by the law was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, and a bill that would have required record-keeping and purchaser identification for all ammunition sales, in person or online, stalled in the state Assembly this year. It could be taken up again next year.

Under the handgun-ammunition law, "it was impossible for vendors or law enforcement or ammunition purchasers to learn what was or wasn't regulated," said C.D. Michel, the National Rifle Association's West Coast attorney, who represented gun dealers and others challenging the law. "It was a recipe for accidental criminals being created by a law that nobody could understand."

Juliet Leftwich, legal director of the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the law is important because "the state of California currently has no idea who is selling or buying ammunition, making it very easy for convicted felons and other prohibited persons to buy ammunition."

The state attorney general's office could appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.